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Speaker: Dave Edson, Board of Directors, James W. Sewall Company; Advisory Board, Mitchell Center
From the viewpoint of a forester who witnessed major forest land transactions during the 70’s thru 2010, there is an inexorable trend offering some expectation that forest land use will continue to serve the needs and interests of future generations.
This was not always a foregone conclusion. AND the movement was initiated in no small part within the northeastern United States.
That trend has been reinforced by a global movement of equity investment in forest land and the coincident ability of the global conservation movement to participate on a par with the free market economy to realize very long term strategic goals.
Dave Edson has dedicated his professional career to the James W. Sewall Company (Sewall), a full-service consulting company based in Old Town, Maine. His career included leadership roles as Chief Executive Officer (2012-2018), President, Executive Vice-President, Chief of Operations, and Vice President of Forestry and Natural Resources. He currently serves on the Board of Directors.
A licensed professional forester, Dave joined Sewall in 1974 as Forest Technician. Named Vice President of Forestry and Natural Resources in 1983, he was instrumental in designing and implementing Sewall’s first geographic information system (GIS) for forestland ownership, use and covertype.
In 2001, Dave partnered with Dr. James H. Page to acquire Sewall, in the process transforming the firm from family to management ownership. During the next decade, they diversified Sewall’s services in engineering, GIS, and forestry consulting to include offerings in web-based enterprise GIS, renewable energy and environmental sciences. In 2012, Dave became majority owner and Chief Executive Officer. Sewall was purchased in 2018 by Treadwell Franklin Infrastructure Capital LLC.
Dave received a B.A. in American History from Harvard College and a M.S. in Forestry from the University of Maine. His professional affiliations include the Association of Consulting Foresters where he was President of Maine Chapter, the Society of American Foresters, the Maine Forest and Logging Museum, the Maine Forest Products Council, and the Forest Society of Maine.